Washington ? The percentage of mortgages in the foreclosure process climbed to another record high in the first three months of 2003 as some homeowners had trouble making ends meet amid economic hard times.

At the same time, fewer homeowners were behind on their mortgage payments, marking the third quarter in a row that has happened.

The Mortgage Bankers Association of America’s quarterly survey released Friday painted a mixed picture of how homeowners are handling their mortgage obligations. The survey covers more than 33 million mortgage loans.

In the January-March quarter, the percentage of home loans in the foreclosure process rose to a record high of 1.20 percent, surpassing the previous all-time quarterly high of 1.18 percent in the fourth quarter of 2002.

Meanwhile, the share of home loans that started the foreclosure process in the first quarter edged up to 0.37 percent, from 0.35 percent in the previous quarter.

The rise in foreclosures comes as job losses mounted in the first three months of this year and personal bankruptcies have been running at record levels. The economy grew at an anemic rate of 1.9 percent in the first quarter as war worries made both consumers and businesses more cautious.

“By and large people are pretty good about managing home mortgage debt, and foreclosures have not gotten out of hand,” said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at LaSalle Bank. “It’s still a very low level of default risk.”

The survey also showed that the seasonally adjusted percentage of mortgage payments 30 or more days past due for all home loans dipped to 4.52 percent in the first quarter, down slightly from 4.53 percent in the fourth quarter of 2002. The delinquency rate does not include loans that are in the process of foreclosure.

The share of past due mortgages peaked at 4.83 percent in the third quarter of 2001 as the economy was feeling fallout of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and from the recession that began in March of that year.

If the economy gets better in the second half of this year, as some analysts are predicting, that “should result in gradually declining delinquency rates,” said Doug Duncan, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.

However, “if the economy continues to just muddle along … you’re not going to be seeing very rapid improvements in the delinquency numbers,” he added.

Economists believe that recent improvements in the delinquency rates may be linked to decades-low mortgage rates and the ease of refinancing, which together may be helping some homeowners better handle their mortgage debt.

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage currently stands at a record low of 5.21 percent, according to Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant.

Low mortgage rates are feeding a home-mortgage refinancing boom, something that is helping to support spending by consumers, a key force keeping the economy going. The Mortgage Bankers Association of America is forecasting a record, $3.3 trillion in home mortgage activity this year, with 68 percent of that expected to come from refinancing.

Duncan is predicting home sales powered by low mortgage rates will also hit record levels this year.